Pad Thai Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is authentic Pad Thai sauce made of? ›

Pad Thai Sauce is made with fish sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar and tamarind. Tamarind is the ingredient that is the heart and soul of Pad Thai sauce, giving the sauce the sour flavour that Pad Thai is known for. It's an ingredient used in South East Asian cooking, like this Malaysian Beef Rendang.

Pad Thai is often served with chopped peanuts, bean sprouts, scallions, and sometimes carrots, cilantro and/or a wedge of lime. The sauce is key and is comprised of sugar, fish sauce, rice vinegar, and tamarind.

The dish is mixed with a tamarind sauce and served with lime. The flavors of this dish are centered around a sweet-savory fusion. Salty, nutty, and with that slightly sweet sauce, it's a treat for tastebuds!

In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water until smooth to make a slurry (see note). Whisk the slurry into the tamarind sauce and reduce the heat to low. Simmer, whisking continuously, for 2 minutes. As the cornstarch cooks, it will thicken up the sauce.

You've probably had pad thai in your local restaurant, but what you had may not be anything like the authentic version. First, it should not have ketchup or any tomato product in it. Second, it should not be syrupy sweet. And finally, it shouldn't be just a heavy, soggy clump of noodles with bits of green onions.

The original recipes were simple: boiled rice noodles, fish sauce, shallots and chives, tamarind paste, and eggs. Other ingredients were introduced due to scarcity of supplies during World War II: tofu or dried shrimp.

The name of this establishment refers to the five flavors (ha/ห้า=five, roat/รส=flavors) which are present in a good pad Thai: salty, sweet, sour, spicy, and savory.

When it's sold in restaurants outside Thailand, the noodles are sometimes bright orange – that's because sauces or spices, like paprika, have been used instead of tamarind. Authentic Pad Thai is a light reddish-brown colour.

The vinegar-sugar mix works well in dishes like pad thai chicken. If your recipe calls for 1 tablespoon tamarind paste, substitute with 1 tablespoon vinegar mixed with 1 tablespoon brown sugar. If using fresh lime juice, substitute 2 tablespoons lime juice for every 1 tablespoon tamarind paste.

Pad Thai surely has an interesting background, but what's fascinating about it is that it did not originate from Thailand, but China! What made this dish more “Thai” is that they added additional flavors and ingredients like chilies.

What does authentic Pad Thai taste like? ›

There are a few vital ingredients for making an excellent—not just good—pad Thai: Tamarind: Mainstream Pad Thai in the U.S. is often a super sweet, red-hued concoction involving lots of ketchup. Traditionally, the tangy sweetness of pad Thai comes from sugar and tamarind paste.

Cooking rice noodles is not actually hard, but most people misunderstand how they need to be treated. The #1 reason why your rice noodle stir fries are a soggy mess is that you're cooking them before cooking them.

Pad thai is a nutrient-dense dish offering many nutrients and health benefits, primarily from: Flat rice noodles: They are rich in carbs, which serve as an energy source to fuel our bodies, and selenium, an essential mineral that supports the immune system.

Cooking tamarind comes in a brown block, which is simply compacted tamarind fruit pulp, without seeds, but still with some of their fibers (though sometimes a rogue seed or two make it in). These blocks of tamarind are what you'll need to make tamarind paste at home.

A perfectly cooked pad Thai should have a balance of flavors — tangy, sweet, spicy and salty, Trang says. This comes from a blend of tamarind paste, palm sugar, crushed red chili peppers and fish sauce. Traditional pad Thai sauces follow a basic formula of a third each of palm sugar, tamarind paste and fish sauce.

It is usually a mixture of fish sauce (condiment made of fish), oyster sauce (made from oyster extract), brown sugar and tamarind (tree seed), but can also include shrimp, garlic, shallots or red chili pepper. Some establishments or chefs may use soy sauce, which is traditionally made by fermenting soybeans and wheat.

When it's sold in restaurants outside Thailand, the noodles are sometimes bright orange – that's because sauces or spices, like paprika, have been used instead of tamarind. Authentic Pad Thai is a light reddish-brown colour.

One notable aspect of Thai cuisine is its emphasis on fresh and aromatic ingredients. Thai cooks utilize a variety of herbs and spices, such as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, and Thai basil, to infuse their dishes with distinctive flavors.